LAKE TANGANYIKA DAY 23

KAPISHIYA TO LUMNGWE FALLS  448km  8hrs

Last night had dinner with the owner of Kipishya Hot Springs, Mark,and turns out he is the grandson of Sir Stewart Gore-Brown who built Shiwa House which his brother now owns. 

They grew up in the house and the hot springs was there week end hide out. In 1995 their parents were murdered in the house by the ANC, they believe because the father was heavy into anti poaching.  The author Christina Lamb came to visit and wrote the book Africa House, which has since increased the number of visitors ten fold, he says the book has done wonders for them and put them on the map. His brother was cut out of the will because his wife, who gave me the tour, punched his mother in the face and that was the end of that relationship.

There were also some Aussies from Compass Expeditions plotting alike trip from Cape Town to Uganda back to Cape Town in eighty days, with their own bikes being shipped for $40K !

Seems awfully expensive for accommodation and one meal and you pay for everything else,and supply your own bike, but the tour is sold out, seventeen signed up for next July.

Departed at 6:30am and had 22 miles of dirt road before hitting the tar to Kasama, was typical patched horrible road, hardly any cars but plenty of trucks.

Turned west on D20 to Mporokoso which was the best tar road yet and was able to do 120kmph with no traffic and no cattle whatsoever. Then it ended and the last fifty miles was all dirt through villages and road

conditions were okay with some ugly patches that catch you off guard. Arrived after two hours at Falls, the camp  has no running water or any other facilities. Had time to see both falls, which were rather impressive for once, before the rains came. 

    LUMNGWE FALLS 

    KABWELUME FALLS

LUMNGWE  FALLS TO NDOLE BAY   255km

After going to sleep at 7:30pm and finally having a good kip was on the road at 6:30am again. Yesterday's road was now soaked and with plenty of muddy sections which kicked my ass. No sooner have you fallen and people appear out of nowhere and eager to help.

Went back on the same fifty mile road to Mporokoso and then north to Ndole Bay on 180km of real good dirt road with no animals passing through many villages. 

    Street market, where a drunk disgruntled man chewed me out for going to fast.

    The woman do all the work.

    The 180km good gravel road to Ndole Bay.

    Typical  homes in the area.

    The kids are always carrying something or herding the cattle or working the fields.

    Stopped to buy some mangos,  5 Kwacha ( 30 cents) for the container on the very right.

    Route on map to Ndole Bay.

     NDOLE BAY.

    From restaurant looking down at Lake Tanganyika. 

Tomorrow  14th November 22, plan to take the boat to Mopumulungu then the following  day will be in Tanzania. 

Posted some videos  -  Roy Cape to Cairo  on YouTube.  

 I don't  think you can put them on a blog, my new IT guru from Portugal was meant to have sorted out all the issues and blend everything  here, but looks like she has failed again. 

KAPISHIYA HOT SPRINGS AND SHIWA 214km.

MUTINONDO to KAPISHIYA HOT SPRINGS

An easy ride up the T2 mostly tar all the way except for the pot craters and broken down trucks in the road. Then W on D53 on a nice dirt road for about 50 KM to the hot springs. Very few cars on the road but endless amount of fuel trucks from Tanzania and the roads are not good so they will swerve for a pothole and not worry about you, biggest vehicle is in charge. 

    The road goes around this truck on both sides, the driver is in it to safeguard the goods for weeks now.

    

The camp has a natural hot springs which was rather nice to soak in while having a massive thunderstorm. Had an enjoyable meal with some Aussies,  Austrians and a few Germans.

DAY 21.    SHIWA HOUSE  10 November 22

Drove 20km to tour Shiwa House which was built in the 1800's by Sir Stewart Gore - Browne who was quite a remarkable chap and was heavily involved in Zambian politics and was given a state funeral. 

MAPS OF MY ZAMBIAN ROUTE.  

LARGEST MAMMAL MIGRATION IN THE WORLD.

LUSAKA  to KASANKA NP.    DAY 17  555km. 8hrs.

Stayed at Lukasa for three nights, the day I was due to leave it started bucketing down at 3am till mid morning. 

Sunday the weather was good so drove north to Kasanka NP, took eight hours, arriving at 4pm. 

    Typical truck stop.

While at the reception being told there was no available accommodation, I was fortunate enough to go with a guide that was taking a Chinaman in his bakkie to see the bats and allowed me to hop in. We raced to the hide at the forest and clambered up ,still in all my gear, except the helmet . Ten million fruit bats from Central Africa migrate here every year from October and depart in late December to eat the fruit. So you can actually hear them firing up their wings, sounds like a waterfall, very strange. Then at 17:51 they started to leave the trees en masse and then twenty minutes later it's all over. Was quit a sight and there is a video of it on my YouTube channel ,  Roy Cape to Cairo Kasanka Bats. 

Got back to the reception and had dinner and some libation. Had to drive 10km to where I could stay in a room they use for students with five gallons of shower water, was actually not bad. Slept like the clappers.

KASANKA to MUTINONDO WILDERNESS CAMP.   DAY 18   226km  7hrs

Visited Dr David Livingston's Memorial  where he died of malaria and dysentry.  The entire day was on dirt, narrow tracks that have never seen a grader, with some fesh fish to boot, which was manageable. Was slow going averaging 32 kmph and happily arriving at camp at a reasonable hour.

    Livingston's Memorial 

    The Bouma with my tent inside.

Not having anything to eat the entire day the curry was woofed down and washed down with few Mosi's. 

MUTINONDO  DAY  19

After breakfast went on a 9.5km hike through the forest and over one huge rock to enjoy a swim in a small river pool and then did chores and now waiting on 17 hundred hours !

https://share.garmin.com/CapetoCairo

https://youtu.be/-18tn7zm4JI   https://youtube.com/shorts/cd38YNPclxU?feature=share

Above are videos,  Am trying to load them here , I think you hold your finger on it and then they play and am trying to fix that comment problem, people can comment ,but have my IT guru on it. 

The main heading is my inReach device where you go to that URL and you can follow in real time my track. 

VIC FALLS TO LUSAKA DAY 11 - 15 1391km. 1 NOVEMBER 2022

VIC FALLS TO MONGU.     529km.

Thought I got up at 5:15 am got ready and realized it was 4:15 am !  Was first at the Zim border at 6am, went quickly then Zambia border took an hour because of the bike paraphernalia. 

Stopped off at the Zambezi River Lodge for a hearty breakfast, has a stunning setting on the Zambezi River and is over the top with rooms costing $700 US . Went and got Sim card which was nuts, they take a picture of your passport, a picture of your entry stamp and then a picture of you.

Then was finally on the road to Mongu which is north east kinda follows the Zambezi. From Kazangula for 120km to Shesheke the road is just potholes the size of barrels and it is slow going on a bike ,in a car it would be your worst nightmare.Got to Mongu around 6:30pm and managed to find a room, can't even remember why I came to Mongu. 

MONGU to KAFUE NP.     384 KM.

Asphalt all the way, potholes all the way but just small ones, just your average road with cattle and people on it so you have to be aware all the time. Went to the park and the guy allowed me in on a bike ! So I went, cause you are not allowed in the park on a bike, off I went and was so fortunate to see a leapord crossing the road, which is very rare in the park. Went to Kasabushi camp on the Kafue River. The owners were quit surprised to see me arrive on a bike and I was even more surprised when they told me they don't  serve food.  They scrounged up some sausage and a potatoes for me to braai thankfully . There are two families of Hippos in the river honking all night and had one elephant come into camp and push down some trees but other than that it was a peaceful night.

   Stopped and rescued the chameleon crossing the road from sure death, I just missed him and then came back and plucked him from the tar.

KAFUE to LUSAKA.   LUKASA CAMP  478km.

Was going to stay two nights but decided to leave and drove all the way down to Itezhi Tezhi. Having been there several times when I was taking care of Nanzhilla Camp in the south ten years ago, was curious to see how it looked now. The spine road is a narrow dirt road all the way down in good condition about 93 miles to the exit at Itezhi Tezhi. Went by Hippo camp to hide from an oncoming rain storm but couldn't find anyone around so proceeded to the next camp and low and behold it the guy comes out to see me and it's Brad who was the manager at Nanzhilla. So He didn't know me with the helmet on ànd I jacked with him for awhile and then removed the helmet and he recognized my wrinkled prune face. Was great to see them again and caught up with all the news and off I went into something I never expected could be so bad.

The heavens opened and waterfalls fell from the sky just when I was on the dirt road, have never been in such heavy rains before and the road was completely covered and on either side was flowing like a river. It was just a matter ofwhen I was going to have my ass handed to me, for an hour it was a struggle and two times twice I came so close to augering into the mud bath but never did. Was one helluva memorable ride, it's just unbelievable I never went down. Then the tar appeared and then it was all over, except for the rain. Not having waterproof gear on and I don't  think it even would have mattered in that rain, my boots were full of water as was I.

All the rest of the way to Lusaka it rained on and off and arrived in  Lukasa Camp in the dark but just so happy to be there. 

    Lukasa Camp. Lusaka.